Police are issuing a warning to residents after an Indianapolis man was attacked at his home, just for answering his front door.

Al Burgan says he thought the person at his door was collecting for charity. But his wounds are now a painful reminder of the scammer at his home.

"There are so many people scamming people at the door," he said. "If you challenge them, you're liable to get in trouble, which I did."

Burgan says the man who showed up at his door on the northwest side of Indianapolis at dinnertime claimed he was collecting for a charity "with the police department and we do have an officer parked up the street who drove me here."

Burgan, who has worked with charities in the past, was suspicious.

"I looked at the document he was holding and thought, 'This is fake'," he said.

He closed the door on the guy, but kept the man's literature to stop his scam.

"Apparently it was his only copy, so I was taking away his livelihood," said Burgan.

He says the angry man beat on the door. Burgan feared he'd break it down, so he open the door.

"He hit me first here, then we were tied up with each other. I was hitting and kicking back," Burgan said. "He got the document and took off."

A neighbor, Tamara, said the incident so close to home is frightening.

"It does scare me to death," she said.

Burgan's house was not the only place hit up by the suspected scammer.